Feelings

There is a freedom surrounding feelings:
- They belong to you.
- They are not wrong. . .They just are.
- No one has the right to say that someone else's feelings are incorrect.

I make an effort (I'm may not be 100% successful, but I try) to understand feelings that belong to others. If I did something that was misunderstood (or not) and caused some of those feelings, I want to understand. It is not my place to point fingers or place blame. It is my place to learn, to live and this is part of that experience.

At the same time, I take responsibility for my feelings. They are mine. I try to keep those feelings in "I" statements when discussing them. My opinion is that "you" statements have no place in these types of discussions.

Having said all of that - it still hurts when I share my feelings and then get bombarded with "you" statements that have nothing to do with my feelings or the situations that played a role in creating those feelings. I wish that more people would try to understand rather than jumping to conclusions.

The result? I closed down. I saw no reason to try to explain myself. I let it go. After all - they are my feelings. I understand them. I need to process them. I need to deal with them. It is about me.

Any attachment others may have to them is not about me. . .Those feelings belong to them.

Namaste.

"What you think of yourself is much more important than what others think of you." - Seneca